Atorvastatin is known by the chemical name [R—(R*,R*)]-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-β,δ-dihydroxy-5-(1-methylethyl)-3-phenyl-4-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-1H-pyrrole-1-heptanoic acid. The hemi-calcium salt of atorvastatin is useful as an inhibitor of the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase) and is thus useful as a hypolipidemic and hypocholesterolemic agent.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,273,995; 5,003,080; 5,097,045; 5,103,024; 5,124,482; 5,149,837; 5,155,251; 5,216,174; 5,245,047; 5,248,793; 5,280,126; 5,397,792; and 5,342,952, disclose various processes and intermediates for preparing atorvastatin. Several processes have been reported for the preparation of amorphous form of atorvastatin calcium in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,528,660 and 6,613,916; U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002/183378 and 2003/109569; and International (PCT) Patent Applications WO 01/2899, WO 02/57228, WO 02/83637, WO 02/83638, WO 03/18547 and WO 03/68739.